All the right spice

Mona

Advertisement

In 1994, when Romy Gill stepped in to UK as a newlywed, little did she know what lay in store. The charm of a new place, new life, wore off in a week, and she started missing her home, friends and most of all, food. Fast forward to 2013; she has got the coveted Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to the hospitality industry! 

Sipping chai in Chandigarh on Thursday morning on her way to explore Himalayan food trail, full of guileless charm and enthusiasm like that of a child, she exclaims, "Who thought a girl from a small town could be honoured by the Queen!" So humble is her family, calling Rurka Kalan, Jalandhar, home, that she didn't even tell them. "I like it when they know from people that their little girl is winning laurels," she smiles.

Success story

Back to her culinary journey; while she has all respect for the curry houses of England, this was not the food she had grown up eating. "I missed my food and that I had no interest in cooking whatsoever growing up, so in a foreign land I started from a scratch." 

That she's a self-taught chef and got her restaurant — Romy's Kitchen — and the attention it got, she considers a feat. "There were three obstacles that I had to majorly cross — I was in a small town, Thornbury, Gloucestershire, I was woman and I was brown."

In fact, when she started, all she wanted was to cook for herself and as she grew confident, she cooked for her friends; the encouraging response led to Romy's Kitchen. "When I decided to turn professional, people were waiting for me to fail," she says with a glint in her eye. 

Golden formula

Six years on, she has a staff of ten, mostly British youngsters, who lend her a hand. And her signature style is... Panch Phoran Masala. "I am way more Bengali than Punjaban for my growing up happened in Burnpur, West Bengal, where my father was posted," says the chef, who loves this traditional mix of fennel seeds, black mustard, nigella seeds, golden fenugreek and cumin seeds. 

Also that she loves street food, she makes it a lot in her restaurant — she makes samosa chaat, jhaal muri and phuchka, Bengali-style bhel and golgappas, respectively. 

From the country that she calls home now, she has picked up — venison, wild boar and octopus, and cooks them in her own style. "I make venison curry with dal and rice, wild boar in Rajasthani style, laal maas, and tamarind octopus, which enjoy quite a fan-following."

Marathon route

When not cooking or experimenting in kitchen, Romy loves to run. With four full and 14 half-marathons to her credit, she raises money for different charities, including Nishkam SWAT, which feeds the homeless. While cooking demonstrations with chefs across the world is what she enjoys, her next is London marathon in mid-April and an intended series on 'langar'. "Welfare of all, regardless of one's religious, social or economic background, should be considered supreme."

mona@tribunemail.com